October 2005 Archives
- October 31, 2005: The Bus is Her Stage || No. of Comments: 9
Her day peaks exactly twice: Once at 7:56 a.m. when she boards the No. 18 bus at a quiet corner in south Minneapolis and again at 5:25 when it drops her off at that same intersection. As the bus pulls to a stop every weekday morning, the curtain rises and the lights brighten. Mentally checking her posture, she holds her small pink alligator purse in one hand and waves at the driver with the other. Her smile is radiant as she bounces up the steps and into the spotlight. She takes her time paying the fare, first digging for her…
- October 28, 2005: To-Do || No. of Comments: 5
Sitting just to the right of my keyboard is my to-do list. It’s always there, organizing my life, reminding me what needs to be done and providing a sense of accomplishment when items are checked off. I’ve tried using the task lists on the computer, but checking things off on a screen just doesn’t provide the same satisfaction as on paper. Like other people, I often add items to my checklist after they are completed, just so I can see those encouraging check marks. Here is my current to-do list (always written in blue ink): Buy 40 squeegees (checked) Valleyfair…
- October 26, 2005: This is Called A “Telling Fact” || No. of Comments: 12
It’s not too difficult to guess what the top tourist attraction is in the state of Minnesota. It’s that behemoth version of a standard suburban shopping mall, the Mall of America. Forty-five million people visited that hellhole in 2004. But try to tell me what the No. 2 attraction is… Go on, take a guess. OK. Stop babbling. It’s Cabela’s, the retail paradise for hunters. It attracted four million people in 2005. I find this funny. ——— For those who care, here are the top 10 Minnesota attractions, with attendance: Mall of America: 45,000,000 Cabelas: 4,000,000 Metrodome: 2,656,820 Grand Casino…
- October 24, 2005: Food || No. of Comments: 14
I can’t eat French onion soup, not because I don’t like the taste but because it’s ugly. Brown and thick and horrid looking. Lately I’ve been eating veggie burgers for dinner because my imagination has been acting up when I eat meat. I have to add alfalfa sprouts on top of the veggie burger, though, to break up all that brown-ness. Sans sprouts, the bun and the burger are basically the same color. If it were a painting it would be one boring, unappealing slab of poop brown. Add a few sprouts, though, and the painting is like a Warhol…
- October 20, 2005: Stories that Aren’t From Me || No. of Comments: 3
My sister called me this evening as she drove to the grocery store to replace the crockpot meal she destroyed. A social worker in a retirement home for the rich, she told me how one of her residents died this week. And how, when my sister saw the 98-year-old woman’s cold body flopped on the side of her bed, she had to leave the room before she started laughing. A spitfire until the day she died, the old lady passed away with her middle finger clearly extended, like she was saying to death, “Eff off. I’m going but not willingly.”…
- October 17, 2005: The Joy of Sets || No. of Comments: 3
Last week we won our first Ultimate Frisbee game and this week we won our first volleyball game, despite our usual comical play (which I love). For example, I almost knocked a guy out in the bleachers with a spike that went up instead of down. Sadly, it’s a frequent thing. But somehow we won a game and so our cheers were louder than usual. With a teamname like “Joy of Sets,” you know things are bound to get a little dirrrty. As I promised in the last entry, here are some of our most regular cheers (which must always…
- October 14, 2005: Hey ‘Dina || No. of Comments: 4
There is a tradition after Ultimate Frisbee games that dictates that each team must — if they agree — make up a song and sing it to each other after the game is finished. Lame, right? That’s why we rarely follow the tradition. Sunday, though, we won our first game after four weeks of play. Spirits were high as we finished the last of our Gatorades and pulled on our warmup pants, our sweat-soaked hair clinging to our faces. The other team approached. “Do you guys wanna do a cheer?” Uh… we looked at each other and shrugged. “Sure.” The…
- October 11, 2005: Zoom || No. of Comments: 7
Sometimes my favorite part of the day is a two-mile, 15-minute bike ride home from work. Escaping the office as soon as possible, black leather gloves on, jacket unbuttoned, I awkwardly stretch my leg over the bar, push the right pedal down and take off, a penguin diving into water. Turning right onto Marquette Avenue in downtown Minneapolis, I own the narrow bike lane. Two lanes of cars come at me on my left. They stop and go and brake and curse and look exhausted. Suckers! I fly by them in my special lane. On my right I buzz by…
- October 9, 2005: Dive bars, clay masks, rock climbing and trains || No. of Comments: 6
Me getting misted behind Cascade Falls in Osceola, Wisc. This evening I returned from another short trip out of the city, this time with my good friends, Adam, Justin and Kevin. Friday we drove an hour north to St. Croix Falls, where we checked into the fabulous Holiday Inn Express and headed out to mix with the locals at a dive bar. We discovered, though, that we didn’t fit in. Evidently it’s a requirement for men there to wear camouflage hats at the bar. And when we went to the jukebox, the bartender yelled to us, “AS LONG AS…
- October 7, 2005: The Best is Today || No. of Comments: 9
Last night I walked through Loring Park in the Thursday darkness of 10 p.m. The air was sharp and clear, like all the particles of dust and oxygen and carbon monoxide were sucked away — where I don’t know — and what remained was pure air. A vacuum of fortifying cold. Inside the restaurants lining the park I watched people eating by candlelight, huge fronds of leaves framing their tables. I wanted to push my face against the windows and observe, to listen to their stories by reading their lips, my hot breath steaming the glass. I was alone. After…
- October 6, 2005: Another One Not to Miss || No. of Comments: 3
If you see any theater this month or even this year, see this: Please Don’t Blow Up Mr. Boban. It’s everything live theater should be. Engaging, intimate, touching, hopeful, insightful, entertaining, and above all, human. With less than 100 seats in the Loring Playhouse and less than one foot separating the stage from the crowd, the usual separation between audience and cast is gone. When a cast member looks at you and asks a question, your response is automatic. You are no longer a spectator, you’re a participant. At this close range, the story comes alive with richness. As…
- October 3, 2005: Tragic, but not || No. of Comments: 5
Periodically I come to the realization that the Twin Cities have some top-notch theater happening all over the metro area, and that I’m seeing almost none of it. It seems people my age just aren’t into the theater, unless it’s Wicked or Rent. We’d rather stand and look at the same people in the same bars, drinking the same drinks, listening to the same music, wearing the same clothes… You get my drift. Yesterday, though, prompted by cheap tickets, I escaped the routine and saw Sophocles’ tragic Antigone at Jeune Lune, my favorite theater. I have several friends who are…
- October 1, 2005: Saturday || No. of Comments: 4
Summer is fading but a lone flower in my back yard holds on to its petals for dear life, unwilling to give up the fight. Meet Dalton, half boxer, half pit bull, all puppy sweetness. Clumsy, alternately confident and suddenly unsure. Likes to lick cracks in sidewalks and anything made of wood. In my care for the weekend. Matt, Dalton and I head to St. Croix Falls, Wisc., where we spend the afternoon walking among cliffs and rivers and lakes. The woods are a new adventure with a puppy. Every hole, leaf, crack and crevice holds something invisible, fascinating…
